On The Outside
by PrincessSparkleKitty
Summary: Inside Robin's mind he was fine, but on the outside...Can Batman help him before he's gone for real?


**Hi, I'm PrincesSparkleKitty! This is my first Young Justice story, and I'm actually pretty happy with it.**

 **I've had this idea since I watched this episode, and I just had to get it out of my head.**

 **Disclaimer-I do not own Young Justice. Please excuse any spelling/grammar mistakes.**

* * *

A training exercise gone wrong.

But that's all it was. A training exercise, and the team knew it. That's all it was.

Robin, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Kid Flash, Superboy, and Artemis were all in a training exercise Batman set up to train them for failure.

Of course they didn't know that's what it was for.

Nothing they did would be enough. If they took care of something bad, something worse would pop up. They wouldn't be able to win. Hence the training exercise for failure.

They didn't know what the exercise was for, but they _did_ know it was just that. An exercise. It wasn't real, and they knew it.

Until Artemis died.

They forgot it was fake, and thought everything that was happening to them, all the lives that were lost, were real.

That's where Robin's problem started.

Batman had died. The fake Batman. Along with the entire league. The Junior Justice team were the last super heroes on the planet to take out the aliens that killed their mentors.

At first Robin knew it wasn't real, and paid no attention to the fact. But when his subconscious took over, and he forgot the reality he was in wasn't real, he also forgot that the death of his mentor, his father, was fake.

He had lost another father. He had _watched_ another father die right before his eyes. The moment his subconscious took over, he realized he was an orphan once more.

He only hoped Alfred was okay.

But he didn't have time to grieve. He had to save the world. That's what Batman would do, and that's what he was gonna do. He and what was left of his team were gonna save the world, and avenge their friend.

* * *

 **Batman's POV**

Once Artemis died from the simulation an alarm goes off on Red Tornado's computer.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"M'gann's subconscious has taken over the simulation." Martian Manhunter states worridly.

"Meaning?"

"They all think the training exercise is real."

 _Well, this can't be good._

I hear someone mumbling, and I look around the room to see who made the noise.

Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado are trying to fix the exercise and Captain Marvel is...Playing with his fingers...I look over the kids, and my eyes land on the youngest member of the team who is slightly moving.

I walk over to Robin, and hear him mumbling. Varients of 'no' are heard, but I can't make out what else he's saying.

I lay my hand on his stomach, something that used to work on him when he had nightmares, but he just gets worse.

"No. No. NO!"

The other mentors run over to us when they hear Robin yelling.

"What's wrong with him?" Captain Marvel asks.

"I don't know. Martian Manhunter?"

"It seems he is behaving in the way he would if he was having a nightmare. Now that he no longer remembers everything is not real it probably is like a nightmare for him."

"No. No, Batman, no."

"It seems the fact of you dying is now coming to him."

"Well is he like this inside the simulation?" I ask as calm as I cam manage.

"I will find out." Martian Manhunter walks over to M'gann, and puts the palm of his hand to her forehead. After a minute he moves his hand.

"I was able to see what M'gann saw, and Robin is acting completely normal inside of the simulation." he says, and I nod. At least he's keeping his cool inside his head.

"Then why is he like this?" By now Robin is moving around a little more, and I have to keep my hands on his shoulders so that he doesn't fall off the table.

"It's like a nightmare. He is behaving normally inside his 'dream', but outside of his mind he is suffering." That's one thing I don't like to hear. My Robin.-...My Dick, suffering...My son.

"NO! No, Batman! NO!" There are small tears running down his face from under his sunglasses, and I remove them to wipe his eyes. Everyone in the room (well, everyone in the room who's awake) has seen him without a mask anyway.

"Batman! Bruce! No! I can't- I can't- I can't lose another dad!"

"What's wrong with him!?" I look over at Black Canary. I didn't even notice her come in.

"He's living in a nightmare." Captain Marvel says panicking a little.

"He will be fine." Martian Manhinter states.

"No, he will not." We look over at Red Tornado.

"What do you mean he won't be fine?" I ask.

"He means that if Robin's heart rate gets too high while in this condition-..." Martian Manhunter looks cautiously at me for a second, "He could die." he mumbles it, but I still hear him.

"What!?" Robin flinches, and I look down at him. On the outside it seems like just another nightmare, he has them all the time, but it's not. Dick could die...And it would be all my fault for suggesting the stupid training exercise.

"What can I do?" I ask.

"Keep him calm until we find a way to wake them up."

Robin moves too quickly, and rolls off the table. I catch him, and am about to lay him down again when Black Canary puts her hand on my arm.

"What?" I ask.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Look at him." I look down at Robin who is curled up in my arms. Still crying, still shaking, still suffering.

"No. No. No." he mumbles curling up into me more.

I sigh, and sit on the table with him in my arms. Martian Manhunter smiles at me for a minute before going back to finding a way to wake the kids up.

I manage to calm him down, but I remain holding him in fear he might hurt himself if I do put him down.

I just hope they find a way to wake them up before it's too late.

* * *

"NO!" Robin wakes up, and immediately curls up further into a ball shape. I tighten my grip on him, and he clutches my shirt.

"B-Bruce?" he whispers.

"I'm here, Dick." I answer.

I look down at Robin, and sigh. I can only imagine what this was like for him. He already watched his first father die, he still blames himself for it, and he thought I had died too.

Out of everything that happened I think that's what scared him the most, because he's still not letting go.

Kid Flash runs over to us. "Is Dick okay?" he whispers.

I nod, "He'll be fine." I answer.

Wally hands me his sunglasses, but for now I just hide his face with my cape. It doesn't look like he's gonna be letting go of me anytime soon anyway, so the team won't be able to see who is really is.

Wally already knows, of course, but they've been best friends since they were nine and eleven.

Dick sits up, and I move my cape up to cover his face from the others.

"You okay?" Kid Flash asks, and Robin nods. He wipes his eyes with his sleeve, and puts on his sunglasses.

Wally smiles, and walks over to Artemis. I'm almost positive there's something going on between them.

We both stand up, and he turns to me.

"Can we go home now?" he asks, and I nod.

* * *

Walking through the house, I stop outside Dick's room. I peek inside to see if he's asleep to find him curled up in a ball on his bed.

"Dick?"

He looks up at me, startled, as I sit next to him on his bed.

"You okay?" I ask, and he nods.

"Are you lying?"

He doesn't answer for a few minutes, but then suddenly wraps his arms around me, shaking and crying once more.

"I thought I had lost you." he mumbles into my shirt.

I tighten my hold on him as I bring him closer to me.

"I won't ever leave you."

He looks up at me, "Promise?"

"Promise."

We sit there like that for a while, but when Dick's breathing gets heavy I look down to see that he had fallen asleep.

I carefully move from the bed, and pull the covers over him. My hand lingers on his head as I watch him sleep. At least he's in a peaceful sleep this time, and not in a living nightmare. No promises that the simulation didn't traumatize him, though.

I walk over to the door, and turn off the light. I look back at him one more time.

"I love you, son."

Before the door closes, I faintly hear him mumble, "I love you too, Dad."

* * *

 **I love DaddyBats! :)**

 **Hope you liked this one-shot! I'll definitely be in this archive more often, but I also have some other stories to finish in the Lab Rats archive. And right now it's after midnight, and I need to get some sleep, so I won'e be doing anything until tomorrow.**

 **BTW, sorry if I got anything wrong. I haven't even finished the first season of YJ yet, and I'm just going off of what I know, so...Yeah, I hope I got everything right, but if I didn't than I apologize.**

 **Please review, and tell me what you think.**

 **Toodles**


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